Below

A highly underrated WWII submarine ghost story from the Director of Pitch Black.

Buena Vista is puzzling sometimes. It seems that their Dimension label pushes some pretty bad flicks such as Phantoms (despite Affleck being the bomb in that one, yo) and Dracula 2000, yet it buries somewhat good movies such as the recent Equilibrium and Below.

As legend has it, Below was originally in the hands of Darren Aronofsky, before being completed by Pitch Black's David Twohy. Aronofsky's influence definitely shows through in this underrated horror flick about strange happenings on an American submarine during WWII.

The Movie

Set on the USS Tiger Shark, Below opens with the crew of the sub rescuing three survivors from a U-Boat attack. There's a Brit, a German, and a woman. You see, there's a superstition that says that a woman on a submarine is bad luck, and the crew doesn't really want anymore bad luck, even if it's in the form of Olivia Williams.

Not long after the survivors are brought onboard, strange things (such as a record player starting up all by itself) begin to happen all while the crew continues to track a German ship high overhead. Soon the people on the sub start hearing voices and seeing things. Are they hallucinating or is the ship haunted?

The whole ghost story is actually rather subdued, and most of it's left to your imagination. Don't worry, that doesn't really ruin the impact of the story, as how things progress over the course of the film is what makes this horror film work. There are a couple of jumps, but this is one of those movies where the scares are supposed to come from what you don't see. Add in the claustrophobic environment of a cramped submarine, and you have the recipe for an effective horror film.

The cool starts here.

Another thing that makes Below work well enough is that you like most of the sub's crew, and you want to see things turn out well. This is helped by a pretty good cast headed up by Bruce Greenwood as the sub's captain.

Looks more like a Red October to me...

Below is a film that many people missed during it's theatrical run, and now that it's on DVD hopefully it'll be able to find a wider audience. Anyone who enjoys a good ghost story with a military twist should definitely check it out.

8 out of 10

The only reason you need to own The Postman

The Video

This is a perfect 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer that basically features every challenge that a transfer can face, and handles each element perfectly. Despite set in a dark submarine, there are numerous scenes that feature great color saturation. There are moments in bright sunlight, and others where an orange, green, or blue light is casting some ambience on the actor's faces. In every example, the colors and flesh tones are excellent. Then the transfer has a ton of very dark and low-light scenes to tackle, and the black levels are rock solid and shadow detail in the low-light parts is perfect as well.

"Exuse me, 'Das'-what?"

Throughout the film, the transfer maintains a razor sharp and three-dimensional look. Small details such as beard stubble or the texture of a leather jacket look great in this pretty much flawless transfer. I noticed no major compression issues or edge enhancement either.

For a submarine film, the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on the DVD can't really compare to those earth shattering mixes on U-571, but for a horror film, the 5.1 is used quite well. One of the best effects used in the soundtrack is the sound of objects scraping or banging on the outer hull of the sub, which use the surround channels to put you right there in the sub with the sounds all around you. Low-end use of the is also very solid with strong bass throughout the film.

8 out of 10

The Matrix is discovered circa 1943.

The Extras

The special features on the disc begin with a pretty fun audio commentary featuring Director David Twohy, and actors Bruce Greenwood, Matt Davis, Hold McCallany, Zach Galifianakis, and Nick Chinlund. It's a bit light on actual technical information from Twohy, as the cast members and their laughter dominate the track that's quite a lot of fun to listen to.

Menu

Then there's a twelve-minute behind-the-scenes featurette titled "The Process". This uses on-the-set footage and mixes it with storyboards, script pages, and interviews to give a rather unique "making of" documentary. There are also three Deleted Scenes presented in non-anamorphic widescreen along with optional commentary by David Twohy. Finally, the films' theatrical trailer is included along with trailers for other Dimension releases.